Healthcare organizations have large amounts of data but often do not have the tools to bring the data together for useful business information and planning. Healthcare analytics is the systematic use of data and related business insights developed through applied analytical disciplines such as, statistical, contextual, quantitative, predictive, cognitive, other including emerging model to drive fact-based decision making for planning, management, measurement and learning. Analytics may be descriptive, predictive or prescriptive.

Healthcare analytics involves application of statistical tools and techniques to healthcare-related data in order to study past situations such as operational performance or clinical outcomes to improve the quality and efficiency of clinical and business processes and performance.

The healthcare analytics market is showing a double-digit growth due to supportive elements such as digitization of world commerce, the emergence of big data and the advance of analytical technologies. Healthcare organizations can differentiate themselves through data analytics. Factors such as, federal healthcare mandates, wide scope of predictive analytics and improvements in the financial and operative function are driving the installation of healthcare data analysis in hospitals. While, the major concerns of this market are the security of data, privacy of individual patients and lack of manpower with cross-functional analytical skills. The healthcare analytics market is estimated to be $3.7 billion in 2012 and is growing at a rate of 23.7% from 2012 to 2017 to reach $ 10.8 billion.

Healthcare payers as well as the providers are leading the users of health care analytics for a range of functions from suggesting the most accurate diagnoses, cost reduction, fraud prevention, revenue generation, service improvement to real-time view of the business. The major driver for business analytics is the return on Investments (ROI), with a median of five years, from 10.0% to 1,000.0%.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) offers incentives for hospitals and physicians who adopt technology and document related to patient safety, coordination, and quality of care. Data analytics tools are becoming an attractive purchase for decision makers, even in an economic climate forcing hospital budget cuts, layoffs and closures.

Healthcare Analytics provides several benefits across payers and providers, which are expected to increase, as the healthcare data analytics market is still in the nascent stages. In addition, as the analytics penetrates the Asian market there would be niche benefits, which would be discovered, based on the needs.

The healthcare analytics market is a well-established market in the U.S. It is showcasing double-digit growth compared to other healthcare IT market. The European market is the second largest market, growing at a lower rate due to the economic crisis. The Asian market is relatively new to the healthcare data analytics, however, the increasing initiatives and outsourcing will drive the market. Australia and New Zealand are developed market in terms of healthcare IT, and are setting an example for the use of healthcare data analytics.

For companies in the pharma sector, LinkedIn represents a vastly under-used opportunity to conduct business and generate that elusive return-on-investment online . How does pharma get a return on investment on social media?

INTERVIEW: Accenture's David Logue talks digital pharma PharmaTimes DL: Pharma marketing organisations are often set up with a dependency on colleagues in the technology function to deliver digital experiences.

"While traditional communication channels remain popular among older patients, the next generation of younger patients known as millennials are interested in utilizing more digital health tools to enhance their patient experience, according to a recent Salesforce report. "

"Some reports show that up to nine out of 10 adverse reactions from drugs go unreported. In an effort to find those possible adverse drug reactions in medications, pharmaceutical companies are reportedly searching social media for a better chance at learning of potential adverse drug reactions. There are many potential adverse drug reactions that patients might not think of to report to their health care provider, according to The Pharmaceutical Journal.

“Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) are grossly under reported by everyone, including healthcare professionals, but particularly so by patients,” David Lewis, head of global safety at the Switzerland-based pharmaceutical company Novartis. Novartis is working on a three-year project called Web-RADR (Recognizing Adverse Drug Reactions) that will in part use social media information to determine if there are aftermarket adverse drug reactions in various medications. The program even uses the hashtag #pharmacovigilance."

Within 24 hours of Apple launching its platform for health research this month, tens of thousands of iPhone users had signed up to take part in five inaugural studies involving some of the US’s most respected medical institutions. A Harvard-affiliate

Changing patient expectations represent a shifting landscape, together with the increasing influence of social media, plus heightened government regulatory activity and a growing trend of alliances and acquisitions.

Pharmaceutical companies need to respond dynamically to this evolution by implementing new business models. Next generation business models must address a number of key factors to position themselves for long-term success, one of which is to listen and ultimately engage in meaningful dialogue with consumers and stakeholders.

The benefits to be gained from social media listening far outweigh any concerns for the pharma sector, and in this whitepaper created with our friends over at Brandwatch, we seek to explore;

Key challenges facing pharmaceutical companies in their forays into social listening such as AE reporting and ROI measurement

Benefits of social listening illustrated with reference to a number of case studies drawn from a selection of therapy areas

Recommendations around how to get started and the role Brandwatch and PharmiWeb Solutions can take to help you achieve business success

How can you derive actionable insights from your listening activity? PharmiWeb Solutions have partnered with Brandwatch to provide ahighly specialized solution tailored to the life sciences sector.

POST SUMMARY: DTC marketing’s objective, in the past, was to drive new Rx’s. Marketers ran commercials and patients went into their doctor to request the product or get a sample, but today the environment in which we market is more complex and filled with a lot of noise. So how do DTC marketers cut through to ensure their marketing is still relevant?

It’s a question that comes up all the time in my discussions with senior industry executives – is social media actually worth the risk for a sector as heavily regulated as the pharmaceutical industry?

And while some may roll their eyes and denounce pharma as being backward for asking such a question, I don’t agree – it’s a great question and an extremely valid one. Every business decision has to consider risk versus benefit.

But here’s the problem with measuring that risk-benefit ratio: you need to consider the timeframe. It’s true for every decision ever made, no matter how big or small and it also applies to our personal lives. For example, there is a small but finite risk involved every time you travel in a car, train, boat or plane. If I considered that risk, versus the benefit of travelling to business meetings, over just a 24h timeframe I’d probably never bother (and also be perceived as being a little odd!). But at least some of those meetings will turn into mutually beneficial commercial relationships, so the benefit far outweighs the risk for me when you look at it over the longer-term. In fact, there is a longer-term risk, to my livelihood, from not travelling that is more worrying than the immediate one.

So if you’re just looking at the short-term risk-benefit ratio of anything you’re getting a distorted picture. This is exactly how I challenge people in pharma to look at it when they ask me about risk.

The benefits of social media engagement by pharmaceutical companies are very clear to me and, at a simple level, they are twofold.

Firstly, the relationships formed via social media engagement translate to the offline world. I know this because I’ve seen it happen many times with my business. Many of the healthcare influencers (patients / patient organisation leaders, industry executives, influential healthcare providers, media etc.) who I know on first-name terms initially met me via social media. When access to these people is often a major barrier for pharmaceutical companies the value of social media cannot be ignored.

Secondly, the kind of direct feedback you can receive via social media is fantastically useful – both directly online and, in line with the way it builds ‘real-world’ relationships outlined above, from subsequent offline conversations. In the information age, this kind of input that can only be obtained by being well-connected, can deliver a critical advantage. Social media listening is a start, but engaging delivers a whole new level of intelligence.

So that’s it – access to key customers and unique insights are the two main benefits for pharma using social media, in my view. Both have a major impact on the bottom line success of products.

And the immediate risks of engaging online? Most of them carry even bigger risks from not engaging in the longer-term.

For example, companies worry about picking up adverse events about their products, necessitating subsequent action. Yes – this might well happen, but what if people are having adverse events when using your products and you’re not picking them up? Where does that lead?

Or the notion that by taking part in social media activity, your critics might start to attack you. If you have such vocal critics the reality is they are already attacking you online and, unless you listen, you can’t take the necessary action to remedy it. So by not engaging, the reputational risk to your business – and associated commercial risk – is massive.

I could go on and on, but hopefully you get my point.

Online social engagement is here to stay. It’s only going to get more and more important as a conduit for connectivity and information sharing. So next time someone in pharma asks you if social media is worth the risk, ask them to cast their gaze a bit further down the line to a point when all their competitors are engaging online.

Sharing your scoops to your social media accounts is a must to distribute your curated content. Not only will it drive traffic and leads through your content, but it will help show your expertise with your followers.

Integrating your curated content to your website or blog will allow you to increase your website visitors’ engagement, boost SEO and acquire new visitors. By redirecting your social media traffic to your website, Scoop.it will also help you generate more qualified traffic and leads from your curation work.

Distributing your curated content through a newsletter is a great way to nurture and engage your email subscribers will developing your traffic and visibility.
Creating engaging newsletters with your curated content is really easy.